I picked the topic ” Mercy, Grace, Jesus Way” because Jesus said these words to his disciples on the day he was crucified. John 14:6 NIV says, ” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We cannot get to heaven without faith and belief in Jesus.
I believe almost everyone has broken at least one of God’s commandments. Today, we need to realize that we can’t follow all of God’s laws perfectly, and that’s actually the point. God wanted us to see that we need something or someone beyond his unchanging laws to save us.
Long ago, the Jews believed that following God’s laws and the laws given to Moses would be enough to save them. They didn’t understand salvation the way we do now. We know that we can’t get to Heaven just by obeying God’s laws. Without something more, many people would be lost because of these laws.
Most of us understand that we are all sinners. We often say it’s because Adam and Eve sinned, but really, they sinned because they were in human bodies just like us. This was all part of God’s plan, since God knows everything that will happen.
God always had a plan to save us from our sins. The main purpose of the law was not just to point out our sins, but to show us that we need someone else to save us, since we can’t live up to the law on our own. Being forgiven gives us a better chance at eternal life.
God wants everyone to be in heaven, but our hearts and minds need to be ready for it. Not every spirit can live there. God sent Jesus, who was God in human form, to die a spiritual death for all of us. Now, no one has to be separated from God forever.
You may have heard the phrase, “The wage for sin is death.” This was meant to warn us and encourage us to follow God’s law. God already knew he would send Jesus to die a spiritual death for everyone, so we wouldn’t have to be separated from God because of our sins. The main point was to help people see that just following the laws wasn’t enough for eternal life.
We can’t have peace in heaven if our sins aren’t forgiven, and since we all sin, we needed someone to take that spiritual death for us. If we had to die a spiritual death ourselves, we couldn’t enter heaven. Jesus’s death wasn’t just to make us follow the laws; it is the way for us to reach heaven, since the law alone can’t get us there.
Many of us think “repentance” means to stop sinning, but it really means trying to follow God’s laws. If you obey God’s laws, you won’t sin, but we were already sinners before we were born. The challenge is that our human nature always pushes us to break God’s laws.
As long as we live in these human bodies, we won’t be able to fully obey all of God’s laws. The important thing is to recognize when we’ve done wrong and feel sorry for it. This helps us avoid making the same mistake again.
There’s a gospel singer named Donnie McClurkin who has a song called “We Fall, but We Get Up.” It reminds us that we will keep making mistakes and breaking some of God’s laws. But now we have a savior who can save us, and that should make us love Jesus even more.
On judgment day, we won’t have to stand before Jesus and explain all our sins, because we have faith and believe that Jesus died for us. God gave each of us some faith and understanding from birth. Our job is to grow in faith and learn more about Jesus by studying the Bible and believing in him. The more we grow, the more faith and knowledge he gives us.
I often pray for a heart like Jesus, but I know it’s probably impossible for us to be just like him. That’s why I always thank Jesus for his mercy and grace. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, because there are many believers around the world who feel the same way.